This is Raoul (www.world-results.net). Just to confirm, yes, both rankings will be the same (or should be) once the qualifiers have finished. Edgar has already pointed out the different way of working things out. If you look at the group 9 teams (who have finished their qualifying group), you'll notice that the points are exactly the same in both our calculations.

Amir, no, the draw for the Euro 2012 indeed takes place in February 2010, before the World Cup takes place. This gives countries many months to plan their trips that may start just one month after the World Cup has finished. In other words, if they did the draw after the World Cup finals, they would have to rush their preparations, and nobody wants that.

A win/draw in the last game will worth 1,200 / 400 points (not including ~20additional points per goal difference).

Last games are: Switzerland - Israel : crucial game for both teams Poland - Slovakia : crucial game for Slovakia, not important for Poland. Slovakia should win. Romania - Faroe Isl. : not important for both teams. Romania will probably win. Germany - Finland : not important for both. Germany will probably win. Ireland - Montenegro : not important for both. Ireland should win. Bulgaria - Georgia : not important for both. Bulgaria should win.

leaving out the game between Israel/Switzerland, we'll get the following table:

@Edgar - you are 100% correct.I forgot the playoff games as you wrote.

Regarding the expected results of Ireland in the playoff, as far as I see they will not be ranked, hence will get a stronger team. In that case they will probably manage to get no more than 4 points in the playoff that will probably keep them in the 3rd pot.